Maple Leaves
by crysthur and artheph
Summary: He sensed a kind of magic when he watched her on the pebble path under the falling maple leaves. NejiTenten


The first time he saw her on that pebble path under the falling maple leaves was the day before the academy began. She was dancing a brilliant solo waltz under the gleaming light reflected off a shower of slowly falling confetti and glitter, according to Neji's memory. Quite unknown to most, Neji had a fantastical imagination as a young boy, but as he grew older, he told himself that such a mind was utterly useless if he wanted to make his dead father proud.

He watched her from behind a tree, and she, not being experienced in the ninja arts, could not sense his chakra. He was confused. How could she be so happy, so content? It didn't make any sense.

When she finally left for home, he stepped onto the path himself, but he couldn't feel any of her joy. Instead, he felt like crying, crying for everything that had wronged him already at such a young age.

He suddenly felt a pressure on the top of his head.

"Father?" he whispered, in a cracked voice, as his pale eyes lit up.

He turned around, but no one was there. He looked up, and the leaf that had settled on top of his head fluttered down. Along with it came his tears.

* * *

The second time he saw her on that pebble path under the falling maple leaves was the day before the teams were to be announced. This time, she was merely twirling and laughing under a light flurry of snowflakes. His imagination had toned down after his harsh self-deprecation; yet, a little wisp still survived.

For no reason it seemed, whenever Neji thought about her, he liked to imagine her with winter in the background, even though she looked more like summer. Maybe it was his witty subconscious trying to tell him that he, who represented the cold season in many aspects, wanted to perfectly match with her.

She didn't sense his presence as he once again stood behind a tree. His logical ninja-enforced mind immediately thought, "_Not a good shinobi._" But as he watched her being so carefree and cheerful, he wondered if maybe she could teach him the magic of those falling maple leaves because he certainly couldn't conjure it himself. Or even better, maybe she could teach him how to be happy. Yeah, he firmly decided. He wanted her to be on his team.

* * *

The third time he saw her on that pebble path under the falling maple leaves was the first time he saw her as the scene truly was. She had brought him along one day after training, and he claimed to have never seen the picturesque image before, which was technically true since the only memories he had of it was a flashy ballroom and a snow-clad landscape. But now, he saw a formerly fierce, confident ninja turn into a simple, lighthearted girl with a brilliant mixture of various reds, oranges, greens, browns, even purples, and a solid pebble gray as her background. She walked along the path, trying every so often to catch a falling leaf and laughing when bits of brittle leaf caught onto her hair. He studied how the light reflected in her eyes changed every so often, according to the sun's position in the sky; he noticed how locks of her hair fell out of her tied buns when she tried to remove the flying debris; he liked how the pink rose to her cheeks as the rays shone on her.

Tenten turned back and smiled. "Neji, look. This leaf reminds me of you."

She held up a dirty brown leaf dried up to its maximum, its outer edges curling in over itself. If she waved it anymore, it would surely crack into insignificant bits.

Neji narrowed his eyes in mock anger. "Yeah? Well this one is the perfect reincarnation of you."

He picked another maple leaf off the ground. Though it was green, it had a grotesquely furry, gray-colored fungus covering most of its top.

"Oh dearest Neji, the humor you exude does amuse me so. Do tell more," she sarcastically remarked, pulling him down to sit next to her on the path.

When Neji remained silent, she took up the conversation, animatedly commenting on their fellow teammates, their past missions, their fighting styles. As he let her voice flow over him, Neji decided that just maybe he had finally experienced the magic of the maple leaves.

* * *

When he felt like it would be the last time he would visit the pebble path under the falling maple leaves, it was empty. She wasn't there, gracing the scene with her delighted presence. It was like a bare skeleton without its life giving blood, like the ocean without its water. There was no more magic flowing through the leaves or emanating from the pebbles.

He had scoured the lands near and far in search of Tenten after she went missing during a mission. He wouldn't come home, even at the begging of Gai and Lee. He had to find her; he had to. But even two months had left its mark on Neji, as he slowly trudged back to Konoha with nothing to show for his toils. He couldn't bear to glance at the treasured pebble path, always overwhelmed by the onslaught of raw emotions.

Finally, after weeks had passed, he forced himself to walk along the path again, perhaps with a vain, feverish hope that some part, any part, of her was still there. But instead, everything was cold; the path was hard beneath his thin sandals; the leaves scratched his arms; the sunlight was feeble. Life was unfair, he felt.

"Why so down, Neji?" a quiet voice rent through the air.

He paused, but when he realized just who it might have been, it took all his cool, stoic demeanor to keep him from running to her, embracing her in a fierce hug, and crushing his lips upon hers. Instead, he walked slowly to the end of the path where she stood, lazily leaning against a tree. He took in the sight of her, which he had been so deprived of the last few months.

He traced her cheekbone, smudging a little of the dirt already there. As she tilted her head against his palm, he noted the cast around her right arm, the bandages on her forehead.

"Why didn't you go to the hospital?"

"Because … I wanted to see you first."

Again the imagination he had kept so repressed took a hold, and he saw a grove of orange trees, their tangy smell permeating through the air. He imagined drawing her close to him; she was so addicting. The orange blossoms flew with the breeze, swirling around them, but he didn't care when she pressed her lips gently against his.

And when his mind returned to the present, he found that though the scenery was back to the normal pebble path with its falling maple leaves, everything else was how he had imagined it.


End file.
